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Really tasty. Noticeably sweet, which is pleasant, but I would halve the sugar and omit the sugar topping if serving with a savory dish. This makes them a perfect match for lentil soup! Although more time consuming, next time I will cut butter into the dry ingredients, then mix in chopped apples and cheese with the wet ingredients, instead of trying to do this all at once (which resulted in pools of butter on the baking sheet when the scones emerged from the oven, presumably because of too-big chunks of butter that remained in my dough).

What a great topping - oats. almonds, coconut (I used unsweetened), bound with a honey/butter mixture. Do cover or it will burn. I used HoneyCrisp but I think some other apple might be better suited - the HoneyCrisp really keep their shape and next time I will try for an apple that is a bit "saucier"!

Super easy recipe. I used a springform, since that is the only 10 inch pan I have. Required a baking sheet underneath it and a lot of additional cooking time (30 min). A little lighter than a lot of traditional gingerbread since it's half honey, half molasses.

I've made these twice and my boyfriend and I absolutely love them. A great easy-to-grab breakfast. I froze half of the batch (which does make 18) and take them out in the morning. By the time I'm ready to eat, these are ready to munch on.

Not a groundbreaking recipe or anything, but I really liked the whole wheat flour in these muffins. I did not find that they lasted that long though without freezing- the size of the apple chunks made them quite soft after just a day. My yield was also 18 muffins.

I like these better than my former favorite (from the New Vegetarian Epicure). I think you could even eat these BEFORE dinner without ruining your appetite (at least if there were several other cheese straw fans around). I used hot smoked Spanish paprika from La Tienda. Next time I'm going to roll into a log, roll in sesame seeds, and slide thinly before baking. (Got to try several variations before Thanksgiving this year!)

For a quick vegetarian supper using nothing more than a package of plain button mushrooms, look no farther. We use a pie plate and extra garlic, a squirt of anchovy paste is great in there too. The most time-consuming thing is wiping the mushrooms. With a salad and good bread, the dish is licked clean every time. Don't skimp on the capers - it looks like a lot, but don't overwhelm. This could be a great cocktail party appetizer, leave them whole and serve with toothpicks and bread.

Whoo boy. I made this earlier this summer; using the quantities specified, I ended up with two 8-inch cake pans. Took them to a party, where one pan disappeared, and then we were able to nosh on the other one for quite a few days. Delicious!!

This is late summer comfort food - cheesy, crispy potatoes and summer squash, but without the heaviness of milk or cream. I used slightly fewer potatoes and squash, and found I only have enough for three layers, but I liked the thinness of my tortes, as the best part is really the browned potatoes at the bottom of the pan. The only downside is they are rather time consuming top prepare as compared with many other vegetable dishes, and need more than an hour in the oven to bake.

Surprising flavors, a great party hit. Served these with brie; they would also be nice in a green salad. After the grapes were gone, I made a vinaigrette with the remaining brine, and this was delicious, too.

Really quick and really tasty. I did not bother with the cheese as I have a cheese-hater in the house, but it was lovely all the same. Make sure you make enough of this!
As I could not resist tinkering with this either, I tried it with some lemon zest, which was not really an improvement, although it was still very good. I also tried sautéing in butter instead of olive oil, and I found that different but equally good.

This single-handedly took me from ricotta loather to ricotta lover. Amazing stuff. I made the recipe exactly as is, using full-fat ingredients, and let it strain for two hours so that it was very thick. I put this in lasagne (from Joy of Cooking) and it was absolutely the best I've had.

I made the mistake of only using whole milk, thinking that the creamy jersey milk I had would be rich enough. Unfortunately, it turned out a little dry and slightly rubbery. Not that it wasn't still good, but it was not so creamy and spreadable as I would have hoped. Next time I will check the cheese every fifteen minutes or so as it drains; I let it sit for roughly an hour, and feel that was too long. I also wonder if my milk may have gotten to hot, or if I added a little too much lemon juice. Because I had less acidic Meyer lemons, I thought I should increase the acid amount a little, but in retrospect I doubt this was necessary. And while I waited for the thermometer to read 190F, I feel the temperature may have registered a little late and the milk was actually ready a minute or two earlier.

This is one of those dishes that is sure to become a staple. To start with, it tastes totally lovely. The slightly bitter silkenness of the spinach with the nutty firmness of the chickpeas, deepened by the richness of fried bread and the acidity of a touch of vinegar, finished with cumin and smoked paprika. Hearty, comforting, spicy, all of them. Hopelessly moreish.
Some notes on details: The fried bread should probably be either in or under this, not both. Unless you want it gluten-free, then I'm sure it will be fine without as well.
When I set out to cook this, I found I was all out of tomato sauce. I used an equivalent amount of mild Turkish red pepper paste instead. Great. Now I've tried both I can say I actually prefer to substitute the pepper paste.
It will probably work with frozen spinach as well, as long as it is whole-leaf or only roughly chopped. The feel of leaf should still be there, not the totally fine mush that cheap frozen spinach can be.

4 stars. This is incredibly delicious, and if you already have cooked or canned chickpeas on hand, this comes together very quickly. The bread adds some heft to the dish and makes it very filling, although I've made this without the bread (didn't feel like getting the food processor out) and it was still very filling and flavorful. The smoked paprika and the acid is key. Works well with drained frozen spinach. Spinach doesn't have to be completely drained, since this dish benefits from a little liquid to make it smoother. Will make again.

This is a very handy one pot dish made mostly with pantry ingredients, and it's also very adaptable. I pureed a 14 ounce can of diced tomatoes in place of the tomato sauce, and also added some panko crumbs in with the scant amount of stale bread I had on hand. It's healthful, tasty, and both my four-year-old and husband ate it with no urging - what more could I ask for? Next time, I'd like to add Aleppo pepper, as wester suggests.

This is the perfect, adaptable pasta recipe for an early spring weeknight dinner. I changed it up a little by replacing some of the asparagus with sugar snap peas, which I added to the boiling pasta just one minute before removing the pot from the heat. I left out the tarragon and added prosciutto. Serve with a simple salad, and dinner is done. As a one pot dish, washing up is also a snap.

I quite liked this, but I thought the asparagus flavor wasn't that distinctive. Maybe I put too much lemon in?
It didn't look as lovely as on the website either, it was quite flat. I also found it difficult to keep on slicing once the asparagus had become quite thin.
I did like the flavor combination with almonds, but I don't think this one will make me stop cooking my asparagus.

I've made this several times with many variations. My boyfriend was skeptical the first time I suggested it, but has since been converted as well. I like adding goat cheese and a few cherry tomatoes when I have them around.

Easy to make, it smelled wonderful, and the children told me it tasted great too.
My cake needed almost exactly one hour baking time. The interval between the inside still being quite liquid and the cake being done was quite short, so be careful not to overbake.

A good and easy banana bread. I liked that it only takes one bowl and that it's not too sweet. I used the 3/4 cup of brown sugar option and found it just right. Some commenters increased the spices and I think I would do that next time since I didn't really taste them. Nutmeg is a nice addition. Took 45 minutes in my convection oven.

Anytime I make rice crispy treats now, I use this recipe. These are buttery and salty and really addictive. Sometimes, instead of using unsalted butter and salt, I will just melt down some salted butter and it seems to have the same effect.

Delicious and fun! Without adding to the basic ingredients for rice kris pie treats, this recipe manages to make them better. All it takes is a little extra time for the butter to brown, and some crunchy sea salt added to the mix.

I don't like chipotles very much so I substituted a can of fire roasted tomatoes and added a tsp of Spanish hot smoked paprika and a tsp of smoked black pepper. It turned out great - best black bean soup I ever had. Will definitely make this again.

The best black bean soup ever. Can be prepped a day ahead - sauté the veg, add the spices, etc, then pop into a container (rinse the skillet with 1 c of the water to get all the good stuff out) and refrigerate till ready to cook. Then all that needs done is rinsing the beans, dumping the veg in, and topping up with more water. My immersion blender makes the pureeing a breeze. DON'T SKIP THE CREMA! Wow does that toasted, ground cumin seed make all the difference!

We found this soup to be very average, nothing special at all. It was very watery and, even after doubling the amount of chipotles, it wasn't particularly spicy -- we had to add chipotle-flavored hot sauce. Even the cumin seed creme fraiche was very subtle and would have needed about twice the amount of cumin seeds to deliver that flavor. Won't be making this again because there are much better black bean soup recipes.

I followed the original NYT recipe from which Deb 'adapted' this one. The only difference between the two is that the NYT's called for grated fresh ginger and I thought that added a lot. The recipe doesn't specify what kind of lentils and since I had green lentils on hand, I used them. I didn't have any garam masala and was too lazy to make some, so I left that out and simply upped the curry powder by about 1/3. We really enjoyed the dish a lot and it was substantial enough to serve as an entrée with a green salad on the side. I reheated it in the oven the next night and I have to say I did not enjoy the leftovers nearly as much as I liked it the first night. That may have been my fault; I think I heated it a little too long and it dried out. I would definitely make this again, but maybe only half the amount.

This was slightly disappointing. I can see these flavors could be brilliant together, but somehow it didn't work. It does still feel like it could be brilliant with small tweaks, and the quick-pickled onions are definitely worth repeating anyway.
Possibly my beans were too crunchy. I do feel that if they had been softer, the other ingredients would have showed themselves more. I used normal green beans and cooked them for 8 minutes (twice as long as Deb says to), then cooled without the ice bath, but next time I will definitely cook them even longer.

A nice easy & simple chilli beans, interesting addition of cocoa powder. We loved the smoky chipotle canned chillies that I finally found in our local shop, seen in many recipes but never found in the shop until yesterday. We had it with lots of fresh spring onions, some sour cream & yeah, even some grated cheddar. Yum.

This is a delicious blend of flavors. Good olive oil really brings this salad together, making it feel a little decadent, not just like a healthy hippie dish. I like to take a little time to rub off some of the chickpea skins, as that helps them soak in the flavors. For maximum flavor, it also works well to make the salad at least a couple of hours in advance. Roasted red peppers would be a good addition, or spread some harissa on the bread to give the sandwich a nice kick.

Easy to make, filling and tasty. I used puy lentils, and a sheep feta instead of the goat cheese. I did serve it with arugula as well. Make sure the lentils and squash are completely cooled, otherwise it will all get mushy when you mix it together.

Used green lentils; next time I will ignore Perelman's instructions to cook them in vigorously boiling water, which agitated them too much & turned some to mush before most were done. Lentils cool quickly spread on a baking sheet. Liked this a lot and will make often -- delicious and nutrient-dense, especially if you include the arugula, which is IMO essential for taste and texture. Optional ribbons of mint and topping of toasted pepitas (hull-less pumpkin seeds) added a lot.

I came home from a weekend out of town knowing that I could make a peach cobbler that was light-years better than the one my husband had ordered at a fancy farm-to-fork restaurant in Charlotte. And YES, this was it. I used 100% peaches, and doubled the cornmeal biscuit topping as suggested; I used plain old Quakers yellow cornmeal rather than stone-ground (though I did add some lemon zest to the biscuit dough); bottom line, this was the best peach cobbler I've ever made or eaten.

This is the best blueberry muffin recipe I have tried. They are a little more work than some recipes and they do require using an electric mixer, but the results are worth it...the flavor and texture of the crumb are wonderful. I often make them with frozen wild blueberries rather than fresh.

I made this with "Rapid Rise" yeast, sun-dried tomato oil instead of butter, and a half cup or so of chopped sun-dried tomatoes. None of the dried milk powder. Boy, did it come out great! And rapidly, too ... I didn't start until 4 PM but it was ready for a (late) dinner. (I also used regular AP flour rather than bread flour ... well, you use what you have when it is 4 PM on Labor Day and all of a sudden you want homemade bread!)

I made a few changes to this recipe. I used oil instead of butter, white whole wheat and all purpose flours, and made it in the bread machine. It's an excellent sandwich bread, slices well, tastes great, and it's relatively healthy. Will definitely make again.

I swapped the currants for raisins & froze the dough instead of baking right away so I could have a scone before work each day. These are absolutely delicious & I'm so glad I picked this recipe. Even if I wait to have these as a mid-day snack, they are fluffy, light and a perfect scone!

This scone recipe seems lacking enough liquid so for anyone who makes them, be ready to add more. I liked them, they aren't too sweet and are a bit heavier in texture due to the oats and whole wheat flour. I freeze leftovers since they stale quickly, or freeze unbaked shaped scones and just bake a little longer straight from the freezer.

I needed to use up some overripe pears, and this recipe did the trick. Light and delicious; a perfect tea bread. Next time I would cut the sugar a bit. I kept it plain without topping it with confectioners sugar or icing.

Delicious! I didn't use an electric beater and they were fine. Although they were the first thing I'd baked in my silicone mini muffin try that stuck a bit - but then again, that might have been because I tried to take them out too soon (they needed 5 minutes or so to cool in the tray first) or because they were taken out of the oven a few minutes early (I had two sizes of mini muffin tray and the falling-apart issue only occurred with the bigger tray). But, falling part muffins - a good excuse to eat them straight away!

This is a filling breakfast that feels healthy, but still tastes delicious. The mixture seemed a bit dry when I was putting it into the cups but turned out well. I measured the stalks based on weight and think I ended up with more than 1 cup of diced rhubarb, but I certainly wouldn't have wanted to have less.

While the batter did seem dry, I also found that the muffins themselves turned out moist and delicious. The rhubarb adds a great bit of zing without overpowering them. I used a heaping cup of diced rhubarb, and cooked the muffins for a full 25 minutes without overbaking them.

Could be ok or could be great: so much depends on what ingredients you use. Needs (in my opinion) very high quality gruyere, caramelized onions, lots of fresh baby spinach and lots of sautéed, sliced mushrooms.

These are delicious, really the best granola bar recipe I have found! I found them to be very sticky, not crumbly, although the stickiness also makes them difficult to cut. In my case, I added a scant two cups of whole almonds and a scant one cup of dried cranberries, and left out the cinnamon and vanilla. My husband really liked this combination. They were likely stickier than usual because I added about a third cup of honey rather than only a quarter cup on accident. I used a little over half a cup of sugar, but next time would stick with only a half cup total, as well as decrease the honey to the correct amount, as they were plenty sweet.

I love this recipe, and so does the rest of the family - including the children :)
Since we only rarely have buttermilk in the house, I usually make the dressing with yoghurt and lemon.
We always make a large portion, any leftovers are popular to take to lunch at school or work the next day

Made a big batch of this for a picnic and it was a hit. I used the shredding disc on my food processor to break down the broccoli, which was pretty fast. I also added some chopped cooked bacon to half of it, and that was definitely the bowl that went first!

I don't know about 'the best'. as this is the only cocoa brownie I've tried so far, but it certainly is good: moist and chocolatey. A tad too sweet, maybe, but that was easily remedied by taking less sugar (240 grams instead of 280). And it's good it can be made completely from store-cupboard ingredients - I can't be the only one who has some trouble keeping chocolate in the pantry for long.
25 minutes baking was plenty for me.

This is my go-to recipe for brownies when I'm short on time and need something quick. The use of cocoa instead of chocolate has also saved me from needing to make a run to the grocery store on more than one occasion.

I made these blondies using a white chocolate chip, macadamia nut, toasted coconut variation, with browned butter and sugar in the raw (I didn't have enough brown sugar). They were super rich and delicious but I wanted them just a tiny bit more cakey/chewy than fudgey. I've heard the Cook's Illustrated recipe provides that. I will try them next.

I made these for a St Patrick's Day party and they were a great success. The brownie layer is fudgey and the two ganache toppings - green mint and dark chocolate - look pretty and taste good. As suggested by SK and on the Epicurious site, it is a good idea to reduce the amount of cream for the ganaches in order for them to set more quickly. I cut them in one inch squares so a 13 x 9 pan produces a lot of brownies (117 to be exact) so it's a good recipe for a party.

I'd never used vodka in cooking before so I was really intrigued as to how this would taste. It ended up being a very flavourful sauce which went very well with pasta. I didn't have fresh basil unfortunately, but I used dried and added lots of black pepper, which gave it a nice kick. My only minor complaint is that I ended up halving the ingredients as I was only serving my OH and myself and there was still way too much sauce for just the two of us. However, I would definitely make this again as the sauce itself was delicious and it was a quick and easy midweek meal.

Just the thing for this cold I'm dealing with! The hardest part is peeling all of the garlic cloves -- this is so easy. Plus it's almost entirely pantry ingredients. I used about 3/4 tsp dried thyme as I didn't have any fresh, and it was totally fine. The cream adds a nice richness and makes it a prettier color, but I'm not sure it's even necessary -- might try without next time. And I think I actually prefer it without the lemon added at the end, or maybe just a smaller squeeze. In any case, I'll definitely make this again, maybe even doubling the recipe.

Why did I wait so long to make this recipe? Over two years since I first saw it here. Maybe it looks too simple.
All the raving in the blogosphere may raise the expectations a bit too high. You shouldn't expect miracles here. It is as velvety as advertised though, and the flavors are very well balanced. It is a bit plain, but that doesn't matter. I will definitely make this again, and I don't feel the need to add anything to it.

Amazing. I used this great slicer we got at a street marked in Spain for 5 euro (made in some Eastern European country) that actually cuts 2 slices of zucchini at once(!) and the arugula I forgot to put into last night's pasta salad, and I had the time to salt the zucc, and let it sit, and then really get it dried in a towel before putting it in the salad (so it actually was both thin and nearly crisp).

Used all red cabbage rather than half green/half red, because I wanted to use up the whole red cabbage I purchased for this recipe. Substituted EVOO of the peanut oil. Was probably heavy-handed with the ground cumin. Salad sounds unusual, but is surprisingly great!

This made a very attractive, light and refreshing dish. But it left me unsatisfied. I didn't feel the dressing did much for the flavor, maybe a bit of sugar would have helped. Also, while I like mint very much, I think it was misplaced in this slaw -- if I were to make it again, I'd replace the mint with Thai basil. But, I won't be making it again, because I didn't like it that much.

Make this cake, then use the chocolate frosting that is part of the Espresso Chiffon Cake with Fudge Frosting (also on Smitten Kitchen). I would have overlooked this, but a family member requested "yellow cake with chocolate icing". Thank you Frank! Sometimes, the simplest things are incredibly good.

I quite liked this but it was a lot of work. I think next time I'll make my rhubarb into a normal crumble again.
Both cake batter and crumble turned out a bit to dry to handle well. I could not spread the batter well and the crumble did not form boulders. If I make this again I will add the last quarter cup of flour of both very gradually, if at all.
If you do not have paddle attachments, you might not want to use a mixer for that part of the recipe. Maybe dough hooks would work, but I don't have those either.

Delicious! Adjustments made by me: 70% of sugar in the cake, made only 1/2 of the crumb, used 0.7 lbs of rhubarb (instead of 0.5 lbs). Reduced the amount of sugar in the filling as well. Bake for 45 min +/- 5 min.

Really not worth making anything less than double quantity of these - they are SO good! And easy to make, easy to double. I prefer the mini ones (take 12-14 minute to cook) but the big ones are good too, just a bit too large for smaller appetites.

I made these as mini-cupcakes. The frosting came out a bit too sweet for my tastes, but everyone else thought it was a perfect complement to the cake. I used a whole 2-lb bag of carrots and still didn't quite get the required amount - but it was enough. This will definitely be a go-to dessert option for me.

I feel like I can hardly rate this recipe since I made so many changes to it. I had to use half olive oil as I ran out of canola, I forgot I was halving the recipe and had to carefully scoop out the double baking soda and salt I used (meaning who knows how much I actually added), I didn't have powdered ginger so I used twice as much fresh, hoping that was a reasonable substitution. I used about 190 g carrots, which was a cup and a half, fairly firmly packed. Per the end result, that seemed about right, although mine didn't turn out as prettily orange as the recipe photos suggest. The flavor was good though, although I'm not sure the cream cheese frosting was exactly what I was looking for...maybe it was too sweet? Maybe it should have had vanilla? The tiniest pinch of salt? I'd make the cupcakes again though, and maybe just try a different frosting.

I use a skillet for this recipe and it really, really doesn't look a thing like hers. My cherries are darker, more broken down, and form a solid mass over the bottom/top of the cake. That said, it's a tasty cake and a great way to use up the remaining cherries from the way too many cherries that you bought the first time they showed up in the grocery store this year.

This cake is perfection for peanut-butter-and-chocolate lovers. I made it for my husband's birthday, and everyone loved it, but it is rich, no doubt. Between ten adults, we didn't even eat half of it. Mine was a two layer cake baked in nine-inch pans, as I don't have three cake pans of the same size. After 35 minutes, the cakes were done. As Perelman notes, the cakes are very soft and fudgy; I put them in the freezer for about an hour prior to frosting. It was also difficult to cleanly cut the cake because it is so soft and moist, but using a sharp knife that has been run under water helps. I flubbed the ganache, unfortunately. My attention was divided, so the mixture cooked too long on the double boiler when I wasn't watching and the texture became rough and thick. Fortunately it still tasted delicious, and looked rather like an extra layer of chocolate buttercream atop the cake.

Love love love this recipe. Perfect cake for the summer. I only had a 10-inch tube pan and had to bake this for a little over an hour and a half. The crunchy layer on the outside was such a nice touch to the usual pound cake texture, and the strawberry coulis turned out to be really delicious. I used the original 2 teaspoons vanilla extract + 1/2 teaspoon almond extract.

This turned out beautifully and was simple to make. I might adjust the sweetness (down) some, though. We froze our strawberries at the height of the growing season, so they have so much natural sweetness that reducing the sugar in the strawberry coulis would have been a good idea.

I will make this again for sure. I think that using quality Dutched cocoa is the key to its success. I subbed dark brown sugar for light, and would do it again (deeper flavor). My egg was probably closer to an xlarge or jumbo egg (forgot to weigh it) and the batter was still pretty thick. So I would use a jumbo egg again next time. I weighed my dry ingredients.

I've been a big fan of Laurie Colwin's gingerbread for years. Until now, I've not been tempted to stray. But this Smitten Kitchen/Gramercy Tavern version is incredibly good. I used Dogfish Head Palo Santo for the beer (and that might have had something to do with the results, too!). I did think that the cake was a bit too sweet, though it has a lovely crispy gooey sweet crust, and next time I will use less sugar, and less oil too.

This makes fantastic wafer cookies that are a perfect substitute for the Nabisco chocolate wafers that are sold in the US. I used 1/3 of these cookies, crushed, in a pie crust for a French silk pie (the Smitten Kitchen recipe) and it was just divine.

This was a great cake. It was easy to make and the result was a really moist, full of flavor, pretty looking dessert. I used a cake tester rather than a toothpick to make holes all over the cake before brushing with the lemon syrup after baking. In my oven it took 58 minutes rather than 50 to be done. Deb has lots of suggestions in the recipe for variations.

Absolute keeper of a recipe - makes a delicious large cake, looked just like the picture.
In metrics:
226 grams butter
400g sugar
390g Flour
and whopping 626g chocochips apparently but I used 250 of chopped up chocolate and this was a good amount, wouldn't have wanted any more.
Make sure you butter and flour tin really well, I have had issues with sticking over past 2 times I have made it. Take out of tin before syrup adding!

Love this cake - the texture is heavenly. Have made with coconut milk (not cream) and, as stated in the recipe notes, it's not very coconutty. I also think the quantity of pineapples needs to be doubled.

This was a really good loaf cake. I subbed yogurt for sour cream (using what I had on hand) and omitted the topping since I didn't have time to make it. Instead I sprinkled sugar and pecans on top, and I found it did need that extra bit of sweetness. I would consider subbing oat or barley flour for the whole wheat flour next time- I think that would make it amazing.

Very good. It rose a little during baking but then sunk back overnight, so I was worried that it would be dense, but it has a very nice tender crumb. I also used yogurt for the sour cream, I also did not have enough rhubarb and did not want to go out in the pouring rain to harvest more, so I made up the difference with strawberries. I was also going to skip the topping, but I'm glad I didn't, it is a great complement to the loaf or even on its own.

Really liked this loaf. I used cherries and toasted almonds instead of the strawberries and pecans; otherwise followed the loaf ingredients as written. I used cinnamon sugar for the topping instead of the butter topping in the recipe and it was good. I liked that it was not too sweet, and used a bit of whole wheat flour. I will make again with other fruits and nuts.

Using the basic recipe, I changed the fruits to apple, frozen cherries from last summer, and walnuts. I completely omitted the topping this time. Worked really well with the change of fruits. According to the comments I increased the fruit a little. Also love that this recipe uses oil instead of butter; I use olive oil. A great fruit loaf recipe. Update: finally made this with the strawberries and I didn't like it much at all. I used frozen strawberries so maybe that was a problem. Loaf was much more moist (too moist, really) and the berries weren't as tasty as the cherries. So I will stick to cherries in future.

This is a perfect way to enjoy strawberries when they are in season. I've tried it using both oat and barley flours and both versions were great. UPDATE May 2015- just made a version with "toasted" oat flour instead of barley and it was sublime.

This was very easy to put together and came out beautifully. I used a 9 inch springform tin as suggested as a possibility in the recipe, which worked perfectly. I also quartered the strawberries instead of just halving them as they were quite huge. The juice from the strawberries seeped nicely into the cake making it very moist, but not too mushy and everyone seemed to really enjoy it and were coming back for seconds. It went very well with cream poured on top, but was also moist enough on its own. I will definitely make this again and may try it with other fruit, such as blueberries or raspberries. Also, I only used plain flour as it was all I had and it tasted great.

Yum "summer" cake, just got a pile of strawberries from the market - but 40 degrees celcius outside, *probably* shouldn't have lit the oven for this but did anyway & it was delicious - didn't have whipped cream, will now have to make it *again* because it will probably be even better with cream.

This cake is great even with the crunchy, flavorless strawberries you get at the grocery store in March. I used buttermilk instead of regular milk and sprinkled the cake with turbinado sugar and it was delicious, especially when still warm, with the tart berries as the perfect foil for the rich, sweet cake. Didn't even need the cream, but I'm sure that wouldn't hurt!

Great cake idea :) Unfortunately I messed it up as I misread the end of the recipe and did it as an upside down cake (which does not look too good). I also accidentally superficially burnt it, which was not beyond repair as it was upside down. Flavours were all good, so blaming it all on my own carelessness and will keep trying.

Wee hee, hoo hooa!!! Is this ever good!! In the middle of an un-South Carolina cold day, this was PERFECT. I made it in a 9-inch square pan, which was almost too small. (Thank goodness I didn't use the deep 8-inch round pan, or I would have had an oven disaster.) But the results - just terrific, and gorgeous.

These are perfect for peanut butter and chocolate lovers. Mine didn't look nearly so pretty, as I found it difficult to neatly roll them in chocolate and then return them to the pan, but I'm sure that didn't affect the taste. I also didn't use nearly 12 ounces of chocolate (maybe somewhere between 8 and 10), but I had made the buckeyes on the large side.

I love this stuff; it's called "crack" for good reason. However, I felt the toffee flavor was a little lacking when I made this batch. The chocolate really dominated. Perhaps I need to make some extra caramel, or perhaps I had baked it too long. The caramel topping was flaky when I removed it from the oven after 15 minutes, which was not what I expected. This probably merits another batch to test my theory...

Update: I made this again, baking the matzo with the caramel topping for only ten minutes, using chopped 70% dark chocolate in place of chocolate chips, and sprinkling with smoked Maldon sea salt. The caramel, while a touch grainy (which I find typical of this snack - it's not really a problem in this case) definitely had more presence, and I prefer the taste of bar chocolate over chocolate chips. Smoked Maldon salt has a mere gentle hint of smoke, which adds just the right finishing touch.

WOAH so good! I used a heaping 1/2 t of our very spicy harissa and it wasn’t too spicy. I also think I threw in a pinch of Aleppo pepper. Skipped the mint cause it’s not in season, but used a heavy hand with the parsley. This made 2-3 servings, and was still good a day later.

Delicious! A great weekday breakfast on the go or a nice light supper with a salad. Came out a bit dayglo with purple cauliflower but still delicious. A really nice balance of flavors. Watch the cooking time, check in increments after 25 minutes. Mine was done in 35 minutes, too far gone in 40 minutes. Still tasty, though.

Good, but we thought it lacked a little flavour. Used 1 cup each good Parmesan and pecorino. Also roasted the cauliflower. Will try again with different cheese. Feta? Only needed 35 minutes cooking time.

An Alice Waters recipe.
This is a very unusual combination of ingredients, but it works perfectly. The cauliflower is sauteed over a high heat which makes it very crunchy and lovely.
Do make it exactly as prescribed, at least the first time, because the details really matter here.

Crunchy, slightly bitter and aromatic. This definitely takes green salad a step further.
Very flexible as well. The minimum you need is both bitter greens and less bitter ones (say, lettuce and endives), or alternatively, celery. When you've got that, combine away!

One word: cheesy. Too cheesy, maybe. But still delicious. I added some bacon as well (and felt a little bit like Paula Deen). A bit more pasta and slightly reducing the amount of cheese in the sauce would make it a bit less heart-stopping, but still delicious. A half-recipe made plenty for my two-person household.

These are incredibly easy to put together (I think I usually spend more time cutting them into cute little shapes than making the dough) and so good. I have yet to find someone who doesn't love these little cheese crackers.

I followed this recipe but made it with five cups of cherries (halved). Increased the almond extract to 1/2 t, 1/4 c cornstarch, and used 3/4 c sugar, and baked it in a free form galette-style crust (400 degrees for 50 minutes). The filling was great but a bit too sweet. Next time I'd cut the sugar down to a half cup and maybe do a bit more than half a lemon of juice.

Very lovely, very chocolatey, cookies. Quite soft in the middle. A very good recipe to let the children help with.
I mixed with two forks, and the last cup or so of flour I mixed in with my hands. It does make me wish I had a dough whisk.
It does make a lot. Next time I will halve the recipe, at the moment I've got a roll of dough in the freezer and I will see if they work as well as slice-and-bake.
I might try decorating them with walnuts next time.

Decadent, dense and rich. I used Trader Joe's triple-ginger gingersnaps for the crust, which I think really made it great. I was running low on bittersweet chocolate so I used half semisweet and half bittersweet -- I don't think it made much difference. The only thing I would maaaybe change is to kick up the spice level a tiny bit next time with more black pepper and cinnamon, and maybe add crystallized ginger on top as in the original Epicurious version, but honestly this is pretty perfect as is.

This is the 2nd year I've made this cookie for Christmas, using walnuts - my least favorite nut to eat out of hand, but sooo right in this situation. I reference the cashew butter balls recipe for the food processor instructions, which, in true Deb form, are perfected. The dough lasts well in the fridge before baking off - in this case, a couple of days. The cookies turn out light in the mouth, perfectly melty, so much better then their simplicity. No cinnamon but otherwise follow the recipe exactly. Oh, a melon baller works great to portion out the batter. My only wish? That this early smitten kitchen recipe were updated to include the food processor method.

1/2 recipe makes 8 perfect cookies. Refrigerating can be cut down to only 5-15 minutes, then drop 1-oz scoops of dough directly into the cinnamon-sugar bowl and shake as you roll into quasi-round shapes. Took exactly 10 minutes. Makes the house smell amazing… oh, and the cookies are just as you remember them.

Make these cookies a day or two in advance of eating them; the flavor and texture of gingerbread really improves with a little time. Perelman notes that these cookies have a real spice kick, but I didn't find them any spicier than any other gingerbread cookies (although I did go a little easy on the black pepper). Maybe I've only ever eaten the spicy kind? We frosted them with a simple icing made of powdered sugar, a little butter, milk, and vanilla. Because the cookies themselves aren't overly sweet, they work very well with icing.

These were good. I followed the directions (even weighed ingredients v measuring), but subbed in Dark Chocolate-Covered Raisins for the regular ol' raisins. The first batch went into the oven frozen and spread a bit on the edges, although not much. I had some dough leftover that I had put in the fridge and I loosely rolled that into balls for a small second batch and baked. These seemed to spread less...so I would do a long chill in the fridge versus frozen in the future. I only got 16 cookies of about a 2 and a half inch diameter. I'm not sure why other people seemed to get so many more as I didn't think my cookies were particularly large.

Great salad with a nice crunch from the cucumber and red onion. I love the taste of sumac and you can use plenty of herbs (in my case, parsley and chives). I also added a little bit of lettuce. Picture here: http://www.flickr.com/photos/50488464@N02/7391691786/

Woo boy, this was great. I substituted brown rice for barley, and didn't add either the red onions or the mint, but the technique for cooking the grain was so much fun -- I'll use that again! -- and the salad came together really well in spite of my insipid purple eggplants. (I'm not sure what was up with those eggplants - super fresh from the farm down the road, but just not a lot of flavor when roasted, and what kind of eggplant doesn't like that treatment??).

This is a vibrant salad for winter, when pomegranate seeds provide a pop of flavor that you can't find in winter tomatoes. They are a must for this salad, balancing out the saltiness or the prosciutto and adding brightness to the greens. I made this two nights in a row - once without the mint, the second time with mint, but only a few shards of fennel as my husband decided he wasn't a fan of the anise flavor. Unfortunately, I could barely taste the mint when I did add it. Ultimately, plenty of pomegranate and a good sweet balsamic will showcase this salad at its best.

In spite of its name- this is definitely a dessert rather than a salad. (I brought it to a brunch.) Pears and a bit of apple, along with dried figs and apricots, are marinated in a simple syrup flavored with star anise and vanilla bean. Pomegranate seeds are added as an accent. The fruit is supposed to sit in the syrup overnight, but I only had time to allow it to marinate about two hours and it still had a lovely taste of the spices.

This is rich and flavourful, especially if you use good-quality mushrooms. Fantastic if you need to make a meal that will keep both vegetarians and non-vegetarians happy. The nutmeg is an inspired touch.

This was quite good served on Rancho Gordo tortillas with the green onion slaw (also from smitten kitchen). However, the making process was a bit of a disaster--I was short on time so I tried to make it in 7 hours (instead of 10) in the slow cooker, turning the cooker to high for a couple of hours at various points. The brisket wasn't tender enough, and the next day, I ended up cooking it for another couple of hours in the oven at 350, after skimming the fat off the sauce and blending the sauce in the vitamix.

Delicious! I doubled this for company and cooked it in the oven (not enough room in the slow cooker). For 6.24lbs of brisket, it was perfectly cooked in 5 hours at 350. I did rotate the briskets so that the same one wasn't always partially out of the sauce while cooking.
I forgot to buy the canned chipotles in adobo sauce so I substituted 1tsp chipotle chili powder per chili (total 2tsp for double batch) and it was just the right amount of spice, not too spicy, but not bland either.
The pickled onions she references in the main recipe were a great addition and complimented the brisket quite nicely in the soft tacos.

A really really enjoyable recipe- everyone in my family, children to adults, loved it. I made a few tweaks- out of necessity, I used milk instead of cream, omitted the parsley and only used one bunch of chard since that was all I had on hand. My bechamel got quite thick and so I baked the gratin with a foil cover in case there wasn't enough liquid to cook the potatoes through. I shouldn't have worried however as there was quite a bit of liquid at the end. A really nice play of savory and sweet.

I've made a few pear and almond tarts, this has to be one of the best, mainly because the pastry was so good. Followed Deb's instructions exactly and even though I thought it was a disaster when I took it out of the food processor as it seemed too crumbly it all came together. Didn't have time to fan out the pear slices so beautifully, so just stuck in the half pear - still looked impressive and tasted great. Hardest part was following weighing instructions - never figured out how to measure a tablespoon of cold butter - scales are so much easier!

I love making (and eating) this tart. It always gains disproportionate (to the amount of effort) oohs and aahs from guests. I had a couple of quibbles. I think 55 minutes is too long - I baked it for 45 minutes and it was perfect. Any longer and the pastry edges would have been burnt. The first one I made, I chilled the pastry for 90 minutes and it rolled out well. The second one, I chilled the pastry for 24 hours and it was very crumbly and cracked a lot. Finally, she doesn't say so, but you should blot the poached pears with kitchen towel otherwise they will be too moist and throw off too much liquid into the tart.

This was delicious and hopelessly moreish (although, luckily, quite filling as well).
It is a bit more work than just throwing it in the pan. I needed three batches for the wilting, and I didn't even make the whole recipe. The boiling off of the liquid took longer than the recipe said, as well. Still, all quite doable, if you start early enough.
I substituted Gouda for the Swiss cheese, as I don't like Swiss cheese. I thought I was going to miss nutmeg - I always use nutmeg in my spinach - but I didn't.

Made alongside a steak dinner with broiled ribeye, halved potatoes, wedge salad. Successfully adapted to use frozen spinach (the store had none fresh, not one leaf!). I used 2 (1-lb) bags, prepped in the microwave to package directions, squeezed dry, then skipped to making the roux without butter-sauteing the spinach. Once the roux was done, tossed in the prepped spinach and turned it into the (8x8 pyrex) dish. Very good, easy too - I'll use frozen next time. Used turkey stock (good, but wanted a bit of cream), Swiss, Parmesan for the top, crappy store-bought breadcrumbs (next time use homemade), and a grating of nutmeg.

Quite simple, very good. Complex flavor, visually stunning.
I made it with blood oranges and tangerines. I think it would be even better with some grapefruit as well.
Lemon juice worked well, but I think red wine vinegar would enhance the savoriness even more. I'm not sure it really needs the mustard.
I forgot the feta, so I used black olives instead. This also works very well, both flavor-wise and visually.

As someone who loves simple spaghetti dishes, I was eager to try this one, and it didn't disappoint. The sauce was a little too lemony for my three-year-old, however - odd, considering he will at times suck on raw lemon slices, but I guess he wants it kept out of his pasta. In a hurry, I hastily tore in some basil and arugula leaves at the end, but I think it would meld better with the leaves cut in a fine chiffonade. I mistakenly boiled the lemon juice with the other liquids, rather than adding it later as instructed in the recipe, but this did not seem to cause a problem.
I made this a second time, with penne - and now the boy likes it, lemon and all!

This was easy and delicious. Somewhat "saucier" than anticipated, but I just reduced the liquid a bit. Then, we topped the pears with leftover pastry cream lightened with whipped cream. Even with that, it was still a light dessert, but celebratory.

This recipe has rec’d rave reviews online so I thought I’d give it a try. The only change I made was to add ½ cup of dry sherry to deglaze the pan after the mushrooms had cooked (before adding the chicken stock). The recipe produced a delicious, rich and hearty mushroom soup. It keeps well in the fridge and also freezes well. The second time we served it I dusted each bowl with some parmesan and this further enhanced the appeal of the dish. Definitely a keeper recipe worth repeating. Photo here: http://www.chowhound.com/post/show-winter-2016-meals-1030300?commentId=9818043

This was awesome, big hit will all family members. I was a little worried because we only had about half the spinach called for in the recipe. But, the quantity worked out fine, making me wonder what using the full quantity would look like . . . Really excellent.

In the Blizzard of '15, wanted to make this but didn't have arborio rice. I used red quinoa instead and made it exactly the same.. it was fabulous! Will make again with the quinoa! I also used Lightline italian sausage as we are vegetarian and it came out great.

I don't know what went wrong, but I didn't like this as much as the previous reviewers. It was just lacking in flavor. It could have been the sausage and rice that I used. I bought spicy Italian pork sausages, but their flavor didn't really come through. I also used Carnaroli Rice and found I didn't like the taste as well as that of Arborio. I might try it again with a different type of sausage and the Arborio because my husband really liked it and I did like how simple it was to put together.

I've heard about these forever, never tried them. They are absurdly easy to make. However, I feel meh about them. Definitely not as good as other kinds of veggie chips. This would be a quick and easy way to get rid of the leftovers from a bunch of kale.

Very easy and simple soup when you already have homemade chicken broth and super easy when you used turkey meatballs from Trader Joe instead of making your own. Parmesan shavings on top added a lot of umami.

This was really delicious. We had it as a light summer dinner with a salad, but it would work well as a side dish too. The crust was tender and flaky and easy to put together, although it did require some advance prep work for chilling. Next time, though, I will slice the zucchini thinner than the 1/4" recommended. Definitely makes the list of "Ways to use buckets of zucchinis".

Deliciously rich and creamy ice cream though with the tang of buttermilk. I made it with just 6 egg yolks rather than the suggested 12 and thought it was easily rich enough. I served it at Thanksgiving with Melissa Clark's Spiced maple pecan pie wth star anise and it was the perfect accompaniment.

Since it's been perhaps 3 years since we last barbecued ribs, decided to try Harold McGee’s recipe, originally in New York Times (http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/30/dining/30curious.html?_r=0) & here. Mixed results: THE RUB—his spice rub was appealing as, unlike so many, it isn’t highly salty. But it is sugary sweet, otherwise added little. Per Smitten Kitchen advice, I cut sugar, by 25%. Also added coriander. Next time I'd use another rub. THE TECHNIQUE worked well. Seems that when I dropped temperature after 4 hours, oven wasn't cooperating for the last 2 hours, so with 7 hungry people waiting, baked 7th hour @ 300°F, probably a bit too long or high. THE GRILL—final charring on the grill (with hickory smoke) made them terrific, wouldn't skip it. THE SAUCE—his too sweet sauce we supplemented with a family favorite recipe. THE CUT—we bought baby loin ribs, not spareribs, worked fine. Everyone said they were delicious, few leftovers.

Inspired by rave reviews & a new slow cooker, I tried this. Only okay to me--but guess I just don't care for cooked-forever beef. (Writing this down so next time I consider cooking brisket or pot roast I'll remember.) Sauce is nice, though (even with a quarter of the sugar).

Absolutely delicious. It's a little different from restaurant dishes that I've tried, because the restaurants usually pound out the breast and lightly bread it before it is sauteed. Everyone raved about this recipe, made exactly as specified.

I didn't love this though I did make a mistake by not reducing the Marsala before adding the chicken stock so I think the mushrooms and the sauce would have had more flavor if I hadn't got distracted. Also I made it with chicken breasts which was what I had but I think I'd prefer it with thighs. So maybe worth repeating with those changes.

Certainly Deb (Smirnoff Kitchen) wasn't too complimentary of this dish, but we really enjoyed it. I made some slight changes (due to laziness). Based on her description of dryness, I used chicken thighs only (skinless, given that the chicken is only ever braised), making only a single layer in my large Dutch oven. I would have loved chanterelles, but given the extraordinary cost here in Australia, I substituted morels (but in all honesty, button mushies would have been fine). Brushing the chicken with mustard & wrapping in bacon seemed like a faff, so I added in bacon lardons, which I fried up before adding the chicken, then stirred through the mustard. That seemed to work fine, though the presentation probably suffered a bit! I'm sure this could be made in two stages to make it easier for a midweek meal.

The Flourless Chocolate Walnut Cookies from Payard are to die for. Gluten free. Full of walnuts. Great way to use up egg whites! Make them smaller than she suggests - half the size or less. Make a half-recipe for a quick dessert solution that NO ONE will turn down.

Made these with hazelnuts rather than walnuts as that was what I had, which worked really well. I made them smaller than suggested - I quartered the recipe and got 10 3-inch cookies. They do spread a lot.

I made this with mini-size pasta called 'Panzani Coquillettes' which I'd ordered online by mistake but which was delicious. On the receipe apart from thinking there was a little too much cheese (which made the dish very rich and a bit on the too salty side) this was fantastically easy and much appreciated by the family. I agree with Deb that it may not re-heat the best of all the mac cheese versions out there (not enough sauce) - but it was so delicious there was none left.

I made this for my daughter's 18th birthday at her request. Since I added crumbled bacon I reduced the cheese by half. I love recipes that don't require par boiling of pasta and this was all I hoped for. I thought about adding sun dried tomatoes- maybe next time.

I really liked this, but made a few changes according to my taste. I used a bit more water and a little more sugar, and they were ready to eat after sitting in the fridge overnight. I added them to a grain salad with quinoa, farro, wehani red rice, arugula, and goat cheese and they were great. A super way to enjoy my home grown snap peas.

I love this soup. I made it with slight variations (oil instead of butter since I wasn't reading closely, and about 2/3 of a head of garlic because I figured that was close enough). I use all the garlic (both the minced tops and the squeezed in cloves) and I just eyeball the sour cream. Tonight we ate it with scallions, bacon, cheddar and a bit more sour cream for those of who can never get enough sour cream.

The best potato salad! This is my go-to and it's easily adapted and tweaked depending what you have on hand (ie, last time I was out of dill pickles so I used some relish I had in the fridge and it was fine). This has been devoured every time I've made it.

Made this many times exactly as described, most often with a cut-up fryer. Often I'll roast some B-sized potatoes for about 30 minutes or so, covered with foil at first, then toss in a handful of green beans for about 15 minutes as well, shaking them halfway through. Unbelievably delicious, and a fast favorite in our house. There is a LOT of sauce when the full recipe is made; if roasting less chicken (just for us two without expecting leftovers), could use just 1/2 cup each of wine and broth (I often keep sauce quantities the same when scaling). This is a weeknight recipe that wants to be served for special occasions; a great celebration meal when that day falls mid-week. Don't forget the baguette to sop up the sauce!

I made what I thought would be enough for leftovers for school lunches but they were so delicious 3 teenage boys soon demolished them. I didn't marinate them as long as suggested, - only about an hour. I cut into the skin and flesh so they flavour was still strong. Mine looked much crisper and a bit blacker than the picture but I cooked them on a grill. Definitely a 'do again'.

As I was only serving two when I made this I halved the ingredients and it still worked really well. I probably didn't marinate the chicken for as long as I should/could have due to lack of time, but it was still very flavourful and I would definitely make this again as a tasty weekday dinner. It went very well with basmati rice on the side.

For me, this was just ok. The chicken is cooked at high temperature and turned periodically. Although it gets rave reviews from others, I will probably not do it again since I found it a bit of a pain to take out a really hot bird and turn it without getting burnt! Also, my result, while good, was not exceptional.

4.5 stars. This is pretty stinkin' easy and good. Deb gives a "cheat" of cooking the squash in the microwave (read: this is the perfect quick side) that has everything done in 10 minutes or less. The garlic may be a bit strong, if you're like me and have garlic cloves that were steroid-taking-large. Used cumin seeds that I toasted first since I didn't have ground. I thought this dish could use a hit of acid at the end after tasting, so I added a little squeeze of lemon juice and it brightened everything without making it sour. Will make again.

This recipe really works; while I can't claim my crust was perfect (is it ever?), it was flaky and buttery, and definitely better than many shortening-based crusts I've made. Follow these simple steps for a great pie pastry.

This is my go-to pie crust. It always turns out beautifully and so very flaky. Plus, it's so easy, just like pie crust should be (I mean come on, pie involves a lot of steps! The crust needs to be easy if you're going to make it through the entire pie!) I'm a bit lazy with the water and tend to err on the side of it being a bit wet since lots of flour helps with the rolling anyway.

This is wonderful. I subbed garlic powder for garlic for less assertive flavor and skipped the cilantro (I was out), but the heat and tang completely wake up the sweetly bland roasted squash (I used buttercup). Will definitely be using this recipe frequently this winter.

I first made these last summer when I had wonderful, fresh tomatoes at the peak of their season. I couldn't believe how fantastic they were. Lately, I've been craving tomatoes, and normally I wouldn't dream of buying tomatoes in March at the grocery store, but then I remembered this and thought it might be just the thing for out-of-season supermarket tomatoes. So, I brought home a carton of Camparis and they're in the oven now. Fingers crossed!

The combination of stone fruit and berries is a good one, and this galette takes advantage of one of my favorite combinations. I sized the galette up slightly, adding an extra nectarine to the filling, and also left off the egg wash, but did sprinkle turbinado sugar onto the crust. While rustic, this combination also looks quite pretty when served.

I just had to try this recipe because it was so "unusual". Since I have always made the back-of-the bag cranberry sauce, I had to buy all the ingredients except the walnuts. The strawberries in the bag of mixed frozen berries were huge so I cut them in forths. I served it not long after the fruit had defrosted and my husband said the sauce was OK but I thought the canned stuff was very bland, almost tasteless. A day later I tried it and what a difference a day made. It was now very flavorful. Since it makes a lot, I would save it for a large group. But really, it is surprisingly good.

Really enjoyed this chili. Lovely smokey flavor as we used smoked paprika. Substituted champagne vinegar for the cider vinegar as that was what I had on hand. It made a lot. We have two quarts in the freezer.

Seems a lot of zuccini per egg. Should it be 2 eggs. I used 100gms grated zuccini to 1 egg and heaped tablespoon of plain flour. This was a good consistency and worked well. Plain flour kept Na level down and it made 3 fritters, enough for 1 person.

Smooth and delectable, this is a great way to use overripe peaches. It's wonderful on scones, pancakes, or toast. I could see adding a little spice to make it a tad more adventurous, maybe a hint of cardamom or allspice.

This made a good, moist cake. Mine took longer to bake (40 minutes rather than 30), and it did not look like a "puddle of chocolate" when finished. I skipped the icing and just dusted with a little icing sugar and it was very rich. Very nice taste, enjoyed by everyone in our group.

Deb does it again!
She has found an already brilliant recipe (by Melissa Clark) and added the perfect finishing touch to it. Those pomegranate seeds are exactly what this salad needed, not just visually, but also taste- and texturewise.
I had this for breakfast today, and I will serve it for dinner too. And then I will try some moderation, but I don't know if I'm going to succeed.

Yum! We loved this. Easy, very tasty. Nice fall side. Omitted feta (didn't have it) - but didn't need it. Creamy, crunchy, savory, tart, sweet all in one. Also, had to use ground cumin, as I didn't have the seeds, sprinkled over cauliflower and it worked just fine. Flavors are really a great mix.

What a fantastic flavor this has. I chose to leave out the peppermint extract. Most ingredients are going to be your pantry staples, maybe with the exception of the heavy cream. I substituted 3 oz. semisweet chocolate chips and 3 oz. 72% good dark chocolate (chopped) for the 6 oz. bittersweet chocolate her recipe called for. Unsurprisingly, it worked perfectly. Next time I would sift the dutched cocoa into the pot to be sure there were no clumps to fight with.

This is a delicious vegetarian carrot soup--not too sweet as they can sometimes be. I used leeks instead of onions as that's what I had on hand, reduced the liquid by a cup, and cooked in the pressure cooker for 5 minutes before pureeing (I just added the miso to the vitamix rather that blending in separately). Topped with scallions and sesame seeds that had been toasted for a couple of minutes in butter, and then mixed (in the hot pan) with soy sauce. Yum!

Decadent. Spectacular. Made this twice, with various types of medium-bodied home-brewed beer. In a valiant (but doomed) nod to healthfulness, both times have used Cabot lower fat cheddar, about 1 1/2 cups (pretty good, considering). I've also split the total weight of the flours 3 ways - all purpose, white whole wheat, and rye (this tastes great, and makes me feel even better!). For the filling, I increased the powdered mustard, used hot paprika, and added a splash of pickapeppa, chasing even more bite. This needs longer in the oven for me - at least 35 minutes. We eat this with our fingers, with beer, and call it Friday night dinner. Why fight it?

A friend of mine first made these, but we weren't satisfied with the texture (very dense) and thought the yogurt gave it an odd tang. I remade them later, making quite a few substitutions and we both loved them. I used her suggested coconut milk instead of yogurt to make them three coconut muffins. I used dark brown sugar instead of regular and buckwheat flour instead of whole wheat. I also added a cup of raspberries. The end result was a very moist, but not too dense cupcake.

This crisp is delicious for breakfast, topped with whole milk Greek yogurt. Despite officially being a "dessert", I'd say it's probably a more healthful breakfast than many, too. I did find the topping to be very crumbly, so might increase the butter or oil by just a tablespoon or so next time.

This was ridiculously good! It does take a while to make since there are so many components, but it's truly really simple (yes, even the crepes). A tip to getting a really clean slice--stick the cake in the fridge for a bit so that the filling firms up a little. And yes, once you start eating it, the neat little stacks of crepe will probably start tipping over, but it's still just as good. I guess if you used a fork & knife, it would stay prettier, but we just dug in with forks alone.
The crepes are also awesome on their own and taste exactly like an amazingly moist banana bread. I'd definitely make just the crepes for a fun breakfast.
I think this cake would also be awesome with an espresso/coffee component (maybe alternating an espresso whipped cream in some layers?).

Instead of ordering a pizza last night, I made this instead. Delicious, healthy, quick dish that I will keep in my back pocket. Probably took me 12 minutes to get supper on the table. Thank you to the folks at Smitten Kitchen!

I wanted to love this one, but the proportions seemed off while I was putting together. The cake layer was so thin that it was very difficult to spread and I would've like to have just a little bit more. The rhubarb also ended up being a much thicker layer than described (maybe because my rhubarb was on the thin side and I measured based on weight?). Oddly, I liked the cake much more on the second day when the mixture had time to set.

I streamlined this even more than Deb's simplified version of David Tanis' original recipe- I used ready made peanut sauce and left over cooked chicken which I mixed together. I combined that with the scallions, cucumbers plus udon noodles and radish slices and radish greens tossed with the dipping sauce. Tasty and eminently adaptable- something I am always on the lookout for.

The recipe made very little blackberry puree once filtered out for us, although our blackberries were gigantic (and I used a bit more than 1/4 cup). We ended up adding some raspberry liqueur (we were out of everything that would've been a closer match) to increase the fruit flavour. The colour is very nice though.

OK, so I made this again, partly curious to try to remember what I might have done differently from the recipe. But I did it even more differently this time, so that experiment didn't work. However, as made, it was a huge hit (again) with the whole family. This time, I once again multiplied the quantities by 1.5. I added two potatoes (cut in half lengthwise, sliced into 1/4" slices, and roasted), layering them with the zucchini. And the cheese was partly Parm, partly smoked Gouda, and partly something else unidentified that was lurking in my cheese drawer. I think the biggest modification that I made (both times) was that I used MUCH more than the tiny bit of cheese called for. Also, I used regular tomatoes, not Romas, both times. Anyway, I still love the dish - it is a great (and flexible!) one-dish meal!

Love it! Made this twice. Due to the egg it's almost a quiche or strata - really nice texture. Of course, it makes a huge mess of dishes, oh well. Some parmesan-toasted breadcrumbs would be a nice topping.

Very quick and easy to do. Very pretty dish as you can see from Deb's photo and tasty too. I think I used too much red onion as it dominated a bit much but the other flavors were great. I used a mixture of mini tomatoes - red, yellow, orange, purple and it looked and tasted really good.

Excellent way to plow through abundant cherry tomatoes. New area cheese producer makes goat 'feta' that worked well. Didn't use red onion because bagger somehow left it out of my grocery sack -- $1.55 gone, but judging from experience of Jane and Deb P., just as well for this dish. No amount of cherry tomatoes is too great for this, as you need the sweet fruitiness to counteract feta's intense saltiness. Actually made twice; used up first round of tomatoes, made another batch, poured over previously baked cheese and re-baked: outstanding! Mellower than the first batch.

This was really fantastic! Used a creamy Macedonian feta, and less onion (just personal preference) and missed the parsley. It went really well with my homemade crackers with sesame, flax, and poppy seeds. Will make again; very easy.

Eggplant adds nice contrast of texture, but less would be fine. Lemon zest surprisingly great here. Double the carrots and celery, add extra clove of garlic. Water instead of stock is fine. 8 oz of orzo = 1.25 cups.

This is fantastic! It is well worth having the oven on all that time in summer and I make it regularly when the ingredients are in season. It has excellent texture, and is wonderfully chewy where there are mozzarella chunks. I use whole wheat orzo. Though some people clearly are, I'm not a big fan of the crusty, dry pasta layer on top that forms when you take it off the foil, so I just leave it on the whole time.

Alas, this is the rare SK recipe that didn't work for me--I found it to be a bit dense and heavy (and I speak as someone who loves moist spice cakes). C liked it better than I did, but I wouldn't repeat.

I made this recipe exactly as written (using the larger amount of maple syrup) and cooked the bread for the full 35 minutes suggested. I was afraid with only the white whole wheat flour that it would be too stiff and dry. It was actually incredibly moist and had a great crunch from the uncooked millet. It was even better on the second day, and then the third. The more I eat it, the more I think it may be my favorite banana bread yet.

Everybody loves this banana bead. My husband was devastated that I passed it around at a gathering instead of keeping it all for us - he only got to enjoy one or two slices. The crunch of the millet makes it unique, and it is quite sweet, although not cloying. It would work well as a dessert, perhaps served with a scoop of ice cream and a drizzle of caramel sauce. I baked it for 40 minutes, but it was still doughy in the center, and probably needed the full 50 minute baking time. My bananas were also incredibly soft and overripe (the peels were completely black), which may have affected it.
Update: I made this again, with bananas that were ripe, but not mush like the previous ones. This time, the bread cooked thoroughly within 40 minutes, so obviously the ripeness and size of the bananas makes a big difference. It was still great, but my husband preferred the doughier overripe version.

Oh boy oh boy oh boy! We didn't find the dough nearly as sticky as I feared it would be, just beautifully soft. With rapid-rise yeast, the entire production from start to eating only took about 2 1/2 hours. The flavor was great (head and shoulders above plain cinnamon rolls), and the icing was terrific (and terrifically easy) too.

The consistency of the filling is similar to thick soup or stew, so making them in individual bowls makes a lot of sense. But, as I only had two oven proof serving size bowls, I put some in a smallish casserole dish also. The presentation wasn't as nice, as we had to break the crust, ladle the filling into bowls, and top with the crust shards, but it was still just as tasty. The crust is wonderfully flaky, and would be a good, quick homemade substitute for other savory pies that call for puff pastry. To maximize my effort, I doubled the batch and put half in the freezer, with the filling and raw pastry dough stored separately. I also used porchetta in place on pancetta, which turned out to be especially delicious, and included the chopped chard stems by adding them a few minutes prior to the garlic.

The flavors of this work well together, but we already knew that, thanks to cumin-seed roasted cauliflower with yogurt (http://smittenkitchen.com/blog/2011/10/cumin-seed-roasted-cauliflower-with-yogurt/) of a year ago. Casting it in fritter-form is a nice idea, but as they fell apart quite badly (probably due to my lack of fritter-baking skills), it didn't quite work for me. I'll stick with the cumin-seed roasted cauliflower: it's exactly as flavorful and a lot less work.

These were fantastic as a side to shakshouka. A few suggestions I would have to make sure fritters stay together... One, go ahead and weigh the cauliflower, and make sure you really are using mostly the florets. Also, be sure to dry off the cauliflower before you mix it all together. They are best right out of the pan. Will definitely make again

This is a good basic pasta dish to serve a group, or just to turn to when you need a pantry-based meal. The sofrito lends the sauce richness and depth, but I would use at least three tablespoons of tomato paste, possibly four. Since I have no food processor, I chopped the veg on low speed in the Vitamix, which worked very well for this task. The rosemary garlic oil really gives the dish its pizazz, but if you aren't able to make it, you could top the dish with fresh grated parmesan and a sprinkling of red pepper flakes instead. While it went over well with the adults, unfortunately my five-year-old was not a fan.

I love biscuits. We always made either the Bisquick variety or another low-fat option growing up. But bring on the butter, I say. These biscuits are flaky, towering and fantastic! You can definitely freeze some and bake later, but we've found that they don't rise much.

We made 2 huge jars of this colorful slaw and it's a favorite for topping otherwise boring sandwiches. (Red cabbage looks pretty/turns everything pink: husband brought some to work and got the best comment: "What'd Kevin bring for lunch? Oh, ….scorpions?") BTW, it lasts forever in the fridge if submerged in its liquid.

Given her raves about this dish, I had high hopes, but we thought it was just so-so. One-note and a bit bland (even with excellent sungolds). Improved somewhat by the addition of some leftover braised kale and an egg on top, but not one that we'll be repeating.

This was decidedly not a hit at our house. The main culprit was the long pieces of onion which caused my son to have a meltdown. I should have chopped them finely (I was worried they would be too harsh if I did that, because they weren't sauteed first). The dish was a bit stodgy as well. I subbed barley for farro, but I don't think that was the problem.

My farro needed the extra 5 minutes to cook. Used fresh cherry tomatoes from my garden and a good glug or two of white wine. Thought it turned out nice and creamy, but I treated the cooking process more like a risotto. Would make with homemade vegetable stock next time and keep the addition of white wine

Great combination. I used Aleppo pepper rather than standard red pepper flakes, and added cumin seeds to the veggie mixture to go with the "Mexican cheese" (shredded bag cheese) that I had instead of Parm. The yogurt dough was super easy to handle and turned out better than similar buttermilk doughs, I think.

I adore this salad. It's classy and unexpected and delicious. The tiny ribbons of kale, rubbly pecorino, vinegar-plumped raisins, toasted walnuts and crispy panko create such great complementary textures. Kale generally holds up well to being prepped in advance. I like that this salad is not sopping with dressing. Sometimes we make the salad hours or a day in advance and add the cheese and panko right before we're going to eat it.

Made for a fall dinner party dessert. Used apples, not peaches, cut to echo the shape of the peach halves. Dipped them in lemon water, topped them, and let them sit in the baking pan, until just before sitting down at the table. Let them bake at 350 until they smelled good - turned the broiler on for just a sec to brown up the tops. They broke down a bit into almost applesauce at the very bottom of the pan, but kept their shape when spooned into bowls. The crispy topping is addictive. Vanilla gelato and the pan was all but licked clean. Subsequently made this many times over the winter, even making a big batch of the topping and freezing it in balls for smushing over the fruit. Cannot wait to make this in the summertime, as written.

I've done this a few times when my dough bucket was taken up with a different ABin5 dough than our traditional pizza. I appreciate it most for the formula - how much yeast for how much time, as well as for the amount - easy to scale up or down depending on how many pies you want to make. I bake it the same way we do our usual pizza dough - pizza stone, 8 minutes.

This recipe did not work for me at all. Not sure whether it was the temperature in my kitchen, substitution of half white whole wheat flour (which she does say is possible), my idiosyncratic oven or what, but the pizza once cooked was doughy, heavy, not anywhere near my standards. It was my first time trying to make pizza, but I have resolved not to try again since I live in Brooklyn where I can very easily buy amazing pizza any time I want.

We need to make this again, stat. This was the perfect use for some green beans that were languishing in the fridge around Christmastime. We had a few holiday leftovers but were tiring of them. This casserole was the perfect centerpiece. Will totally make this as a vegetarian main in the future.

The eggnog filling from this recipe ---- guh. Cannot get over it. Since Deb wasn't satisfied with her florentines, I tried a Cook's Illustrated florentine recipe with pecans, which was ok. The filled cookies keep in the fridge only for about a day before the filling softens the cookie too much and it's too hard to eat enjoyably. Also I wanted smaller cookies - the florentines spread into giant, thin rounds that aren't the right size for their spicy sweetness. I wonder how this would be with a very thin, barely sweet pecan shortbread cookie, the kind you slice, icebox-style. I'll try it next year.

We made this for Christmas, and liked it but didn't love it. It does smell amazing when baking, and the spiced dough + jam does taste like the essence of winter, but it was a bit dry. I enjoyed it most with coffee or tea at breakfast time, biscotti-style. Wonder if the bake time is too long for my taste.

This was great, especially with the runny egg on top. Was short on fresh parsley, so I used a bit of dried in the dressing and cut some kale really small and let it hang out in the dressing (which I doubled given the amount of kale I had) while the lentils and potatoes finished cooking. First lentil recipe I've made that husband requested I make again.

4 stars. Subdued flavors but still tasty with a satisfying textures. Dressing mellows out a tad if taking for lunch the next day. Mint is a must-have, making this salad lean more towards delicious than boring. V-slicer makes the salad come together very quickly.

This salad is an ideal accompaniment to a rich winter main dish (I made it to serve alongside a creamy, cheesy casserole). The fennel flavor was fairly muted here. I think I was hesitant to add too much in case someone I was serving didn't care for anise, but next time I would add more. I think mixing a little grapefruit in with the blood orange would also be good. I find it difficult to cut out clean orange segments without losing too much of the flesh, so I opted to slice the oranges crossways in circles after removing all peel and pith. This worked well, and looked much more attractive. Somewhat to my surprise, this tasted pretty great leftover, too.

Given the large amount of mustard used, really expected the flavour profile to be more pronounced. This wasn't really the case. It was tasty, but did need quite a few different components, so it wasn't a 'prepare & leave'-style dish, which limits how frequently this could be made as a family meal.

This is insanely, improbably good. It's converted my kale-hating husband, who can detect minute quantities of it ("It tastes like dirt."). We gobbled this giant salad, made with the cheap curly kale (give it a few squeezes after chopping, until it's bright green; it's tougher than cavolo nero). Then we made it again. And again. The crucial elements here are the strong mustardy dressing, the sweet from the fruit/honey, salt/tang from crumbly cheese, and crunchy nuts or seeds. Many riffs on this theme exist - but this is possibly perfect.

Woah, best vegetarian dinner ever. It'd been a long time since I'd made wild rice. We didn't have wild rice blend, so I made regular wild rice and some of TJ's harvest grain blend, adjusting the cooking times a bit. I think my wild rice took longer than Deb's.

Great weeknight dinner. Followed the chicken + peppers + onions almost to the letter as far as spices and cooking. Served on homemade corn tortillas (Joe Yonan has the best directions in Serve Yourself, with ingredients are identical to everyone's). The keys to this recipe are 1) thighs, which cook quickly and contribute enough fat/juicy liquid; 2) method, screaming-hot skillet with enough time to blacken the peppers/onions & brown the chicken. The spices were more Tex-Mex than our taste, we even thought it tasted Cajun, maybe it was our chili powder. But this could be varied; simpler for more traditionally Mexican, or a spice paste like achiote?

We've used buttermilk and whey leftover from making ricotta. Any kind of chopped up frozen berries, peaches and mangos have been terrific. Freeze exceptionally well. We bake one or two batches at a time and freeze them to use for quick breakfasts. Flavor is not too sweet.

A really good recipe for barely sweet bran muffins with fruit. Very easy to make and they come together quickly. Took about 16 minutes to bake in my convection oven. I'll definitely make these again with various fruits. They are best on the day they're baked, but also keep quite well, and can be frozen. Note that the ingredients tab lists mixed dried fruits which do not appear in this recipe.

Made for Mother's Day, by hand, no machine. Very doable. Slightly more time was needed to wring the spinach out, and I wish I'd been able to roll it just a titch thinner, but all in all, delicious. (Served with a mushroom lemon ricotta "sauce").

My husband took these to a work potluck, and they were so popular that only a few uneaten bites of oatmeal crust remained in the corners on the pan when he brought it home (and I had even doubled the recipe, anticipating this). For myself, I can say the oatmeal crust was very tasty, and I can only imagine it was even better with fruit. Making the dessert in one pan was also a great time saver.

I made these again - and this time, I even got to eat some! They tasted great, but were very soft, easier to eat with a fork than by hand. Perhaps I should have added more flour, or baked them a full hour (they were in the oven about 50 minutes). For flour, I used 2/3 whole wheat pastry and 1/3 white. The bars also make a great yogurt topping.

I had some challenges related to the basic baking soda bath for these pretzels. The recipe instructs you to take the baking soda solution off the heat once you've stirred in the soda, and to dip the pretzels for one minute per side. Once minute seems far too long, and since the water quickly became tepid, the pretzels started getting soggy. To my mind, it would make more sense to dip them briefly in near boiling water (and I did start dipping them for no more than half a minute after a really soggy batch). The long dip also gave them a pronounced soda flavor, and the pretzels didn't crisp up very well in the oven, probably due to the excess liquid. Still, I think the dough itself was very good, and would make it again. And while our pretzels came out of the oven looking pale and pocked, they still tasted good. They taste even better (and crisper!) after being browned in the toaster oven to freshen them up.

This carrot salad is very good, and works well made in advance. Next time, I would like to try adding smoked paprika or Aleppo pepper, as I think those would be a nice alternative to plan crushed red pepper. I found the chickpeas a little bland, even though I really like roasted chickpeas, so would season them with the paprika or Aleppo pepper, too.

Made this with frozen (wild) blueberries, and used a 9" square pan. I was concerned that it would take less time to bake (recipe says 40 min) because of the square pan, but it actually took 5 min more, probably because of the frozen berries. Not thawing the berries did make it hard to spread in the pan as the thick batter was chilled by the berries. The batter did turn purple as I mixed in the berries but that did not detract from the taste! Served it straight from the pan, though I did use parchment on the bottom to prevent sticking. The cake was delicious with a very soft, tender crumb, and was very moist (especially considering there are only 4T of butter in the cake and 4T in the topping, so it is relatively low in fat for this type of cake). The topping was crunchy and adhered well to the cake. Would definitely make this again.

More a technique than a recipe, but an excellent technique. Why didn't I think of this before? Because I'm too chicken to heat an empty pan on high heat. Will (probably) become my go-to method for frying eggs.

Made September 2015. Followed the recipe exactly for delicious results. Used orange fiestaware bowls, which were the perfect size. Next time I'd roll out my crusts and let them sit in the fridge so that they don't start to melt from the filling. Also, it's fine to lay them over the top without pressing down into the bowl. These servings are quite big; next time I might want to make six instead of four.

Made again, this time using a rotisserie chicken that I had on hand. In order to get that nice chicken-y fond I sauteed some of the bones and skin from the rotisserie carcass and it worked out nicely. Otherwise I followed the recipe and once again, deliciousness ensued!

These savory biscuits are simply delicious. The would make a perfect foil for a breakfast sandwich, but are also great on their own without any additional toppings. I used Comte cheese, and loved the way some of it oozed out, creating a crispy fringe around the biscuit and leaving behind tender, cheesy pockets. Caramelize the onions ahead of time to make the day-of preparation go more quickly. My three-year-old claimed he didn't like the onions... but he still ate an entire biscuit with no prompting from me.

After I tasted these, I knew they were destined to become my go-to chocolate chunk cookie recipe. I had to replace most of the brown sugar with turbinado, but the crunch it provided was great, although next time I want to try it as written. I also forgot to sprinkle salt on top, but had just enough salt in the dough to give them a little edge. These cookies are full of molten chocolate goodness, and the dough has hints of salted caramel. So good!

I made these again and used the full amount of brown sugar listed, along with four tablespoons of turbinado (not two each of turbinado and granulated, as listed). I also used about one third whole wheat pastry flour. Sadly, I did not get to taste this version, as the triple batch I served at church was quickly gobbled up, but judging by people's reactions they absolutely hit the mark.

Didn't have turbinado, used granulated sugar. Baked 1 tray at a time from refrigerated balls of dough over 3-4 days. The 360F/11 minute timing was PERFECT for me, yielding gooey cookies that are almost not-done-enough in the best possible way - your first cookie will be gooey, the next holds together, and cooled cookies are firm. The chunks should be bigger than you think will work - gooey puddles of chocolate are the result. Whether or not I remembered to sprinkle with extra salt, we positively gobbled these up.

Only a little more work than most fruit-based homemade popsicles, these still come together pretty quickly. My four-year-old enjoyed stirring the sugar syrup into the yogurt and swirling the berries and yogurt together in the popsicle molds. Of course, he enjoyed eating them even more! The flavor and texture combination is great, and they are much healthier fuller flavored than super-sugary commercial popsicles.

This is a rich and creamy pasta casserole, good as a make-ahead dinner that will likely be eagerly eaten people of any age. My four-year-old isn't always into casseroles, but this one met with his approval; he even ate leftovers for breakfast the next day. I used buffalo mozzarella since that's what I had on hand, but think regular grocery store mozzarella would be fine here. Adding crumbled, browned sausage could also make this a more complete meal. For herbs, I used parsley, basil, and thyme, but would go a little easier on the parsley next time.

Served for dinner along with watermelon and esqiutes on 8/9/15. I stretched out the prep quite a bit, rubbing the ribs on Friday night, slow baking them on Saturday (six hours at 200 because they started out so cold), and then reheating them on the grill on Sunday. They were definitely fall-off-the-bone tender, but I wasn't convinced that the flavor was the best. Certainly the technique is good though, and I'll continue to tweak the rub.

Made September 2015. Followed recipe exactly except did not blanch the rice. After 30 minutes my zucchini released just over a cup of liquid so I had to add just over a cup of milk. This made for quite a rich dish! My kids really liked it but it was a bit much for me.

Made October 2015. Followed the recipe exactly but my immersion blender was broken ave I was too lazy to bring out the regular blender, so I merely mashed it a bit at the end and called it good. My family enjoyed it (although I think it would have been better blended) but the leftover soup wasn't as good. Still, it was easy and cheap. I'd make it again.

I think I would prefer it without the chocolate chips & nuts., maybe even without the orange zest. Just keep it simple with the lemon zest. Regardless, it's very moist and good as is. I doubled the recipe & made it in a bundt pan.

Made December 2015. Followed the recipe almost exactly except I doubled the vanilla. Used a #50 scoop and didn't chill the cookies at all. Baked them for 14 minutes. They spread minimally and were nicely crispy and chewy after cooling (as described in the recipe). I turned some of them into peanut blossom cookies using Dove chocolates (what I had) and while my kids loved the melty chocolate on top, I found them to be excessively sweet. I think a thin chunk of dark chocolate would be nice (if you like such things) and I've made a similar recipe with orange zest that turned out very nicely, so I might also try that here. I don't usually love peanut butter cookies but I love the simplicity of these and, as far as peanut butter cookies go, these are quite good.

Made for my Christmas cookie trays, happy to find a flourless cookie for the gluten-free among us. Scooped dough balls (the big end of a melon baller worked) and tossed them into a tupperware, then baked the next day. Experimented with pressing a few choc chips into the tops - they got displaced by the aggressive rise, even without any leaveners. Chunky gray salt on top, just a few good crystals. Next year want to find a fudgey, truffley filling for these more interesting, grown-up PB cookies.

I add lots more parsley to this because I like the herbal and color contrast. The chopped dates are the key to this unusual slaw. It keeps better if you add the feta to each serving. I've skipped the sesame seeds (or subbed pepitas) and it's still doable.

This has now become my absolute favorite pecan pie recipe! Toasted pecans, golden syrup, bourbon, and chocolate on the bottom, make for an amazing taste.
I did not use her crust recipe, so cannot comment on that aspect.

Overall, these make a great bar for snacking or a quick breakfast bite. For my taste, I felt the ratio of date filling to crust was a little off, and would have preferred a little less date filling, as it is so sweet. This would be one bar where date paste might also work very well in place of chopping and then simmering the dates in water, if you happen to have date paste on hand or would like to streamline the recipe.

Made this for a work potluck. I love the mixing method although I had a hard time getting the flour incorporated without lumps. I also think I didn't poke enough holes in the cake since the moisture level was uneven. I did add 1.5 tablespoons of dark rum to the milk mixture, which made the mixture so tasty I wanted to drink it straight (I also added half a cup less cream since I wasn't going to pour it into plates like the recipe suggests). Overall, I think this recipe has excellent potential once I work out my small issues.

This was the first meal I've ever made in a slow cooker. It has the advantage of coming together with very little prep and when you get home at the end of the day all you have to do is ladle it into a bowl. The flavor is good, too, and easily adaptable. For example, I used pickled chipotles in place of fresh jalapenos. Mine was a little watery, so I would reduce that a bit unless your beans are old. I used speckled orca beans, which cooked up nicely over ten hours at low heat in my cooker, as did the chicken. It's definitely an ideal recipe to remember when you want a home cooked meal on hand after a long day, or need to feed a group easily.

I made this again with mixed beans purchased at the farmer's market. And again, I think my beans just didn't need that much water. While I reduced the water by about half a cup, it was still fairly thin, but the flavor was excellent and the leftover chili has thickened up nicely.

This is a deliciously rich and cheesy dish, and a fun way to serve pasta. My only issue was that it was a little too salty. Next time, I won't add salt to the sauce, as the cheeses are plenty salty (I substituted asiago for the fontina), especially if you cook the rapini and pasta in salted water. I would also be a little more generous with the rapini. After cutting off the large base of the stems and cooking the rest, I probably had a scant cup of greens, but I really would have liked to taste more in the final dish. I cooked mine for fifty minutes without any additional time under the broiler as the top was already nicely browned. Definitely wrap well in foil to avoid leaks.

I had high hopes for the simplicity and family-friendliness of this dish, but ultimately it was only okay. I didn't cook the broccoli well enough (totally my fault) but I also didn't love the lemon and felt that the broccoli needed more...something. Maybe more cheese mixed in? It just wasn't rich and savory and melty like I expect a melt to be.

This is a great go-to recipe for basic meatballs. There are some things I would do differently next time, mostly having to do with ways I deviated from the basic recipe. I used ground turkey, and the meatballs were quite wet before I cooked them, probably in part due to the fact that the meat was not quite fully defrosted. In such a case, I would recommend halving the amount of milk, adding more breadcrumbs, or both. For tomato sauce, I pureed two cans of whole tomatoes. While the flavor was good, the sauce was a thinner than I'd prefer, possibly because I didn't have time to cook it down. It became very watery when "parmesaned" under the broiler with buffalo mozzarella, partly due to the moisture in the mozzarella. I would definitely give the sauce more time to thicken. Crushed tomatoes would probably be the best option if you have them.

Gorgeous recipe. I agree the sauce was thinner than I anticipated - but, the spaghetti, garlic bread (see Smitten Kitchen's gorgeous garlic bread!!!) or whatever - benefits from this lovely sauce. As I doubled recipe (will freeze for quick and easy future teas) - I used a large can of chopped toms and one of 'triturado' - kind of puree'd. I loved preparing, I loved the cooking - and the eating: very yum!!

Made an adaptation/fusion of this and the Moro-inspired chickpeas salad. Used last of that tahini-lemon dressing to coat some chickpeas while sweet potato wedges roasted (coated with honey, olive oil, garam masala). Chopped some cilantro to replace scallions. Made yogurt dressing as specified. Outstanding, 45 minutes start to finish. Via firetomfriedman on Tw.

Tasty, reliable, and loaded with garlic and butter - this is basically what everyone wants from their garlic bread. It's very similar to Heidi Swanson's recipe, but cooking it under the broiler makes it speedier.

Gorgeous and super quick! Living remote - I had to make own bread - Italian style ciabatta - seeded (as recommended in Deb's recipe).
Maybe I was a little 'heavy' with the garlic - boy this was garlic-y! But divine!!! All family 'faved' about it!! This will now become my 'regular' garlic bread recipe!

This was a big hit with my family. My five-year-old even requested it for his birthday dinner... which is next May. Since I was cooking in a cabin with limited pots and pans, I had to fry the tortellini in several batches and then transfer everything to a pot to cook with the water. Because of this, it probably wasn't as crispy as Perelman's, but no one had any complaints. Conveniently, all of these ingredients are ones I can easily buy at Costco, with the exception of the mint (which handily grows outside our house) and the creme fraiche. And while creme fraiche is undeniably nice, you could easily substitute sour cream, whole milk yogurt, or a drizzle of browned butter.

This recipe arrived just in time for me to try it out for my son's birthday; he brought the cookies in to share with his pre-school classmates today. To keep them nut-free, I left out the almond extract, and used vanilla paste as I had no vanilla beans. They look so festive, and are so easy to make - a real winner for both kids and adults. I kept mine fairly thick so that they remained soft instead of crispy. The flavor is warm and buttery, just a perfect cookie for any occasion.

I desperately need to get a scoop - my sizing was clearly off, as I made a quantity of 25 (slightly less than a golf ball). Nonetheless, used the same cooking temp & times - came out perfectly. Look amazing, slightly chewy, taste great. Next time I might throw some M&Ms/similar on top just to go even more overboard.

A lovely summery salad. I can see this one become a regular.
She does say to play around with the salad, but it's probably best to make it as written first, so you can appreciate how well-balanced the flavors are. First time I made it I added both cumin and mustard seeds, and that was a bit much as there is plenty going on here. I do think that next time I will change the ratio of mint to cilantro as the mint tends to overpower the cilantro, so either much more cilantro than mint, or possibly just one of them.

This is a beautiful version of cucumber and tomato salad. On its own, the raita was full of flavor, but I feel that some of that was lost when I mixed it with the veggies, so I would amp up the ginger and garlic next time, and maybe try nigella seeds in addition to the black mustard.

I love cucumber and yogurt salads, and I think with tweaking, this could be a great one. I used only nigella, but would add mustard seeds next time for more flavor. (I agree the flavor of the dressing was a bit muted.) I also agree that the mint needs to be reduced. I thought it really overpowered everything else, and, since my cherry tomatoes were so sweet to begin with, made it a bit cloying, which wasn't pleasant in a salad.

These are easy to prep in advance, with a nice, lightly spicy flavor. I used close to a pound and a half of ground turkey, and found that two tablespoons of harissa (a pretty spicy harissa on its own) was just right for giving them flavor without making them too spicy for my five-year-old. For us, however, we really need at least twice the yogurt sauce, especially since we ate them with fresh baked pita smeared with plenty of sauce. For herbs, I used a mix of dill and cilantro.

We finished with lime, cilantro and a dollop of greek yogurt but no rice. I also used Romanesco instead of cauliflower which gave it a less appealing green tinge. Pretty good but next time I won't puree it so much.

My husband said the apartment smelled like a proper Indian restaurant when he walked in this evening! Didn't puree the soup too much so that it retained some texture. It really is very nicely spiced and we loved it. Thought the rice was superfluous.

Husband made this. Do not think we'll make it again. Either he didn't boil/simmer the soup long enough or he cut the florets too big. There are few things as unappealing as under-cooked cauliflower. He didn't mash or puree either so the broth was runny, this was a miss for us.

We loved this soup! The flavors were bold and perfect. I made some changes. Instead of cauliflower florets I put in 3 cups of cauliflower rice. I also subbed chicken stock for the water. And, I added 12 ounces of Brat Hans Spicy Cilantro Chicken Sausage, cut into 1/4 inch slices. I cut the potatoes very small, so with that and the cauliflower rice, I didn't feel any need to puree the soup to any degree. Didn't bother to add any rice, but did add lime juice, but no other finishing ingredients. I'll be making this again very soon!

We also loved this soup. We didn't serve with rice either, subbing grilled cheese sandwiches instead, which went well with the heat. We did a coarse puree because I had left the cauliflower pieces rather large. This will definitely be a repeat.

This is quite tasty, although it doesn't beat Chocolate & Zucchini's cauliflower "a la Marie Celeste", which is my favorite roasted cauliflower dish. While nicely browned, my cauliflower was a little limp, probably in part due to the fact that it was crowded together on one pan. Next time, I will spread it over two pans to give it more space to crisp up.

Publishers Text

Briefly: Fearless cooking from a tiny kitchen in New York City.

More: The Smitten Kitchen, in its latest physical incarnation is a 42 square foot (whimper) circa-1935 sort of half-galley kitchen with a 24 foot footprint, a single counter, tiny stove, checkered floor and a noisy window at the end to the avenue below.

What you’ll see there is: A lot of comfort foods stepped up a bit, things like bread and birthday cakes made entirely from scratch and tutorials on everything from how to poach an egg to how to make tart doughs that don’t shrink up on you, but also a favorite side dish (zucchini and almonds) that takes less than five minutes to make.

What Deb is wary of is: Excessively fussy foods and/or pretentious ingredients. She doesn’t do truffle oil, Himalayan pink salt at $10 per quarter-ounce or single-origin chocolate that can only be found through Posh Nosh-approved purveyors. She thinks food should be accessible, and is certain that you don’t need any of these things to cook fantastically.